2.M "^ THE CONSTITUTION AND THE UNION. 



SPEECH 



OF 



HON. THOMAS EUFFIN, 



OF NORTH CAROLINA, 



UPON THE 



I^EXT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, &c. 



DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, AUGUST 9, 1806. 



WASHINGTON: 
PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 

1856. 



%^ 






THE CONSTITUTION AND THE UNION 



Tlie House being in the'Coramittee of the UTioJe on the 
Btate of the Union — 

Mr. RUFFIN said: 

Mr. Chairman: As these evening sessions in- 
fringe not upon tliat portion of the time of the 
House devoted to the transaction of important 
business, and as they have been set apart for the 
especial purpose of affording members an oppor- 
tunity of embarking in the discussion of political 
topics, I deem it unnecessary to make any apol- 
ogy to the committee for occupying its attention 
for the brief hour allotted me under the rules. 
With great deference to the opinions of gentle- 
men who have preceded me in addressing the 
committee, and who entertain views antagonistic 
to those that have been presented to my mind, 
I now propose to submit a few remarks on the 
political affairs of the country. 

A question of great magnitude — yea, sir, one 
preeminently important, is to be passed upon by 
the people of the United States during the present 
year. In my humble opinion, in the verdict to 
be rendered is involved the perpetuity of the in- 
stitutions under which we have so long lived and 
prospered; and a question, upon the decision of 
which depends the happiness, not only of the 
millions who are now enjoying the blessings 
emanating from the best form of government 
ever devised by the genius of men, but also of 
the countless myriads, who, in all time to come, 
are to inhabit this the fairest portion of God's 
earthly domain. 

Disguise as you may, sir, the practical issue 
to be decided in the approaching Presidential 
election, the issue that looms high above all 
others, is, Shall the union of tliese States be per- 
petuated or dissolved ? The Federal Union was 
formed to dispense equal rights and blessings to 
all the States. The Constitution, the sacred char- 
ter of our political faith, the work of incorrupt- 
ible patriots and illustrious statesmen, was a 
compromise of conflicting interests. Those who 
made it had a due appreciation of the respons- 
ibilities resting upon them ; they were practical 



men, not mere theorists; they knew the purport 
of the language they used, and, in its every clause 
and every word, they said what they meant and 
meant what they said. They eschewed caba- 
listic words and ambiguous phrases. Staunch 
in resolve and unflagging in zeal, with powerful 
purpose of soul, they devoted the mighty energy 
of gigantic minds to the great work of devising 
a form of government adapted to the wants of a 
free and independent people, ardently attached to 
the eternal principles of liberty and law. Time 
has demonstrated their wisdom, and shown that 
their work approximates perfection as near as 
anything of human origin could. Many of those 
who aided in framing the Constitution lived to 
enjoy the proud satisfaction of witnessing its 
admirable operation; and, when passing from the 
scene of action, rejoiced in the hope that it would 
be cherished as a priceless inheritance by all 
future generations of their posterity. Little did 
they anticipate that before one century — a mere 
hnk in the endless chain of time — had passed 
away, that a powerful party would spring up in 
this country to inaugurate schemes to bring about 
its destruction and overthrow. That such a 
party, active, powerful and numerous, is now at 
work to accomplish this fell purpose, no man 
can with truth deny. Now, for the first time in 
the history of the country, a party bounded by 
geographical lines has emerged from the troubled 
sea of northern fanaticism, assumed a definite 
shape, and entered the political arena to contest 
the prize of the Presidency. It has planted its 
standard of sixteen stars, representing the six- 
teen non-slaveholding States, on a sectional plat- 
form. With an energy unequaled and a reck- 
lessness unparalleled, it is perfecting its organi- 
zation and concentrating its strength, to elevate 
to the executive chairaman wjio, if elected, will 
administer the Government under a construction 
of the Constitution sanctioned neither by its 
letter nor spirit — a construction never dreamed of 
by the sages who framed it — a construction ut- 
terly destructive of the rights of the people of 
fifteen States of the Union, How long can the 



Union survive when it shall have been decided 
ihat the Government is to be administered, not 
for the benefit of all the States, but of a part 
only? Sir, the times are portentous of evil! 
What ought to be done by the friends of the Con- 
stitution and of the Union in the present emer- 
gency? All patriots should labor " with might 
and main" to preserve the Constitution invio- 
late. To this end they should make common 
cause to crush out the sectional spirit of fanati- 
cism. It is a question far above those relating 
to tarilTs, banks, public lands, and systems of 
internal improvement. The issue has been pre- 
sented; it stands in all its appalling hideousness 
before us; it has to be met; it cannot be evaded. 

The party which has nominated John C. Fre- 
mont for the Presidency presents the issue. He 
has been selected as the exponent of its princi- 
ples; not that he is an experienced statesman — 
not that he is possessed of any peculiar qualifi- 
cations for the position, but solely because he 
was supposed to be available, and believed, by 
those who rule the Black Republican hosts, to be 
n man made up of such pliant materials as could 
be molded and used to effect their purposes. 
Statesmen were overlooked in convention, and a 
mere adventurer, a heartless land-grabber, a cash- 
iered military subordinate, was selected as the 
standard-bearer of the Black Republican party — 
a fit exponent of its views. The candidate is fit 
for the party, the party for the candidate; but 
neither fit to control the destinies of this great 
country. The people of the United States have 
not yet sunk to that low estate, when they are 
only worthy to be governed by a manikin, moved 
by wires in the hands of political jugglers and 
mountebanks. The election of Fremont would 
bring rejoicing not only to the Abolition traitors, 
who are plotting schemes to subvert the Consti- 
tution, but it would be a grand jubilee for the 
motley army of monopolists, landsharks, treas- 
ury marauders, and political gamblers, now so 
strenuously urging his pretensions. 

Suppose the Government to be controlled by the 
Black Republican party — what could the South 
expect from it ? Nothing of good — much of evil. 
Judge what would be the action of the party from 
the course of its friends in this House ! I under- 
take to assert, that no House of Representatives 
has ever asseiubled in this Capitol, that has indi- 
cated so strong a disposition to violate the great 
principles of the Constitution, and to trample 
upon the rights of the minority, as the one now 
in session. Precedents long established and Scuic- 
tioned by reason, never heretofore questioned, 
have been disregarded; guarantied rights have 
been violated; and a spirit of unbridled reckless- 
ness has pervaded the majority of this branch of 
Congress from its commencement. 

Let us examine Black Republicanism as it has 
exhibited itself here. After scjuandering two 
months of the session, a Speaker and other offi- 
cers were ekcted . Then , in hot haste commenced 
ihc dirty work of faction made arrogant by 
power. A member was chosen to preside over 
thia body because of his known hostility to the 
Soutii — a man who blushed not to rise upon the 
floor in his place here, and indirectly to avow 



and advocate the damnable doctrine of the amal- 
gamation' of the white and black races — a man 
who had elsewhere boldly proclaimed that he 
v/as willing, in a certain state of circumstances, 
" to let the Union slide," — a true representative, 
no doubt, of the "sentiment" which elected 
him. In furtherance of the flagitious plans pre- 
viously mapped out in caucus, the committees 
were packed, a majority of the menibers placed 
on each committee being taken from one section 
of the Union; so that, under the rules, they 
might enjoy undue advantages in the legislation 
of this House. 

The work of proscription was pushed to an 
extent heretofore unknown; even the little pages, 
who run upon the floor, were dismissed from 
their places. All this was done by that party 
composed almost entirely of members elected by 
the " American Party " — the party of whose 
disinterested patriotism we used to hear so much 
— the party that professed to have such a holy 
horror of " place," and such an irresistible 
aversion to the " wild hunt after office." Why, 
sir, such was the rush for place, that, for days 
after the organization of the House, the rotunda, 
the vestibule, and all the approaches to this Hall, 
were thronged with a God -forsaken crowd of 
hungry expectants — lean, gaunt, hungry-looking 
"patriots," eager for the spoils. 

Mr. Chairman, there was one feature in the 
organization of this House, remarkable in char- 
acter and long to be remembered. There are 
a class of Representatives here, who have a pe- 
culiar fondness for indulging in the use of such 
stereotyped phrases as " independent represent- 
atives of the free North," "the scourge of the 
slave-driver's lash," " the crack of the overseer's 
whip," &c. They seem to speak feelingly when 
reiterating their stale expressions; and well they 
may; for, with something akin to them, they have 
had much sad experience during the present ses- 
sion. You no doubt recollect, Mr. Chairman, thai 
during the early part of the session, yon report- 
er's desk was occupied by a queer looking New 
York editor, an unfortunate specimen of nature's 
handicraft, a living libel on hun>anity, who, day 
after day, was to be seen lounging with apparent 
listlessness there, like a certain foul old bird on 
the bough of a dead tree. That excentric indi- 
vidual exercised despotic sway over a certain class 
of members, his peculiar followers here, and 
thundered through the columns of the Tribune 
his anathemas against such of them as were so 
unfortunate as to incur his displeasure. To of- 
fend him was political death to tiiem. The cir- 
culation of his paper was extensive in their dis- 
tricts, and the fulminations of his brain passed 
for gospel truth among their constituents. As a 
consequence, these " freedom shriekers" gloried 
in his smiles and trembled at his frowns; his 
edict was their law; he was the Conrad of the 
crew, and his soul animated them all. Though 
they hated and feared, they dared not disobey 
I him. 

<' There was a laugliing devil in liis sneer, 
Tliat raised emotions botli of rage and fear; 
And where his frown of haired darkly fell, 
Ilojie withering (led, and mercy sighed— farewell !" 



Let us now look for awhile to the manner of 
legislating here. All sorts of trickery have been 
resorted to; rules have been violated, and the 
freedom of debate, in many instances, suppressed; 
the "previous question" has been sprung upon 
the House in season and out of season, and 
an unscrupulous majority has ordered it, time 
and again, to prevent discussion on the most 
important questions, thus prostituting a rule, 
intended for wise purjjoses, to the base uses of 
party. 

To manufacture political capital for the presi- 
dential campaign, a committee was sent to Kan- 
sas; and, as was anticipated by every reflecting 
man versed in the affairs of that Territory, civil 
war followed in its wake. The majority in this 
House is responsible for much of the blood that 
has been so unnecessarily shed in Kansas. Im- 
mediately after the passage of the Nebraska- 
Kansas law, slavery agitators in the North com- 
menced that system of tactics that has produced 
so much difliculty in Kansas. That agitation has 
caused iheuntimelydeathof many a poor squatter, 
both pro-slavery and anti -slavery men, who, far 
distant from home and kindred, now lie in their 
cold and bloody graves in the wilderness, where 
the wolf of the forest howls their requiem, and 
the owl, the ill-bodingbirdof night, shrieks their 
death-dirge. But what do men who ride into 

Fewer on slavery agitation care for these things ? 
have no doubt they would be willing to see the 
plains of Kansas drenched in human gore, if they 
could thereby get control of the Fedei-al Govern- 
ment. 

Mr. Chairman, let us pass to another chapter 
in the history of Black Republicanism in this 
House. Representatives sent here by the people 
have been harassed, hunted down, and, in effect, 
driven from this Hall, for entertaining political 
principlesantagonisticto thoseof a majority here. 
Yes, sir; members, pandering to the morbid 
appetite of northern fanaticism, have deprived 
South Carolina of two of her Representatives on 
this floor- Messrs. Brooks and Keitt. Illinois, 
too, has been deprived of one of her Represent- 
atives, [Mr. James C. Allen, J to subserve the 
ends of party, in total disregard of right and 
justice. Even now, this party is hunting some 
pretext to deprive Iowa of one of her Represent- 1 
atives, [Mr. Hall.] To cap the climax, a ma- j 
jority of thi.s House has declared General Whit- j 
FIELD, tlie Delegate from Kansas, not entitled to 
his seat, although he was duly elected in strict 
conformity to law. Eighty-eight members of | 
that majority were not satisfied with thwarting j 
the wishes of the people of Kansas as to wlio 
should be their Delegate, but were so blinded by i 
prejudice and impervious to reason, as to record ! 
their votes in favor of the admission of Andrew j 
H. tleeder, whom they sought to thrust on the ! 
people of Kansas as their Delegate — an individual 
with no better title to the seat than the man in 
the moon. 

Recently this House attached an amendment to 
the Army appropriation bill, iniquitous in its in- 
ception , revolutionary in its character — one which 
it is well known can, in no contingency what- 
ever, pass the Senate. If the Black Republicans 



in this House conspire together to stop the wheels 
of Government, they have the power to do it. 
But, Mr. Chairman, it occurs to me there is no 
necessity to apprehend danger from this; when 
the " tug of war" comes, they will back out from 
their position; they will not dare to refuse the 
necessary appropriations to carry on the Govern- 
ment. When they realize the fact that they can- 
not effect their object by bluster and gasconade, 
a suflicient number of them will dodge out of the 
way to let the bill pass. They say to the Ad- 
ministration, to the Senate, and to the national 
men on this floor, " If you don't do this, or don't 
do that, we will withhold the supplies. " An acci- 
dental majority in this House is striving to usurp 
the powers of coordinate branches of the Gov- 
ernment. They have, of late, invented a new 
way of nullifying and resisting laws. As good 
citizens, they should conform and submit tothe 
laws of the country; they should not forget the 
good old maxim of the Roman patriot and states- 
man, Legum denique idcirco omnes servi suinus, ut 
liberi esse possinuis. 

Such is the exemplification of Black Republic- 
anism in this House. Judge of the whole party 
by the specimen here exhibited! " Ex pede Her- 
culem." Had it the control of the Government, 
what enormities would it not practice .'' This is 
the party that aspires to rule this great country. 
But gentlemen may rest assured that it never will 
be done; John C. Fremont will never occupy the 
executive chair of the United States. 

Another party making some claims to nation- 
ahty, has nominated Mr. Fillmore for the Presi- 
dency. This, the American, or Know Nothing 
party, at one time boasted of much strength, and 
claimed to have arisen on the ruins of the Whig 
and Democratic parties. Within the brief period 
of its existence, it has changed its principles so 
often, and assumed so many protean shapes, that 
I shall not now undertake to describe it. As a 
party, it has become a " tertium quid " — a non- 
descript — and dwindled into comparative insig- 
nificance. I shall make but few remarks about 
it; my time is short, and I shall not tarry to say 
a long grace over a scanty repast. The party 
has proved a woeful failure. Atone time it boasted 
that it was the great conservative party of the 
country; that it was for the maintenance of the 
Union as "the paramount political good," and 
that it had elected trom the northern States some 
ninety national and conservative men to this 
House. Where are nine tenths of these northern 
national Know Nothings now? Echo answers, 
where? Where were they when the contest for 
Speaker was decided? I can tell you, sir; just 
where they are now — drilling in the Black Repub- 
lican camp — marching under the flag with sixteen 
stars, and keeping step to the grating music of 
disunion. Of those once claimed as national men, 
more than nine out often now stand on the Union- 
sliding platform, among the most implacable ene- 
mies of the South. 

The organization of ^he Know Nothing party 
at the North has been used to strengthen Black 
Republicanism, only a small fragment of it re- 
maining, that, at this time, lays any claim to na- 
tionality. Let U8 see what a leading Know 



Nothing paper, the Albany Register, says on 
this subject: 

" If Fremont is elected, the country will owe the Ameri- 
can party a debt of gratitude ; for it is not doing injustice to 
other noble advocates of free soil, to say that the American 
organization in the East and West, is the backbone of the 
Eepubiicau party." 

The idea of electing Mr. Fillmore to the Pres- 
idency is preposterous. In its palmy days, 
Know Nothingism had its chief strength in the 
North; there it has been absorbed by Black Re- 
publicanism; and in many of the States where it 
was once omnipotent, it does not now seem to be 
able to muster a sufficient number of supporters 
even to form an electoral ticket in what is termed 
the national wing of the party. Your quondam 
Know Nothing has there laid down his dark lan- 
tern, and taken up Sharpe's rifle. In the intens- 
ity "of his love for the negro, he has forgotten 
his hatred of the Catholic and the foreigner. Mr. 
Fillmore cannot be elected by votes from the 
South, for there " Sam" never did arrive at man's 
estate; at best he was there but a little, scrawny, 
rickety, scrofulous bantling, that had not strength 
to stand upon his legs. Away, then, with the at- 
tempt to gull southern people into the belief that 
there is a chance to elect Mr. Fillmore ! 

If enthusiastic gentlemen, in the exuberance of 
their imaginations, have pictured Mr. Fillmore 
stalking uito the While House on the 4th of 
March next, I tell them that romantic pageant 
will never pass in review before them. They 
have mistaken shadow for substance; they have 
been dreamingly gazing at a mirage on the political 
horizon; they have either scanned the signs of 
the times through illusory optics, or read them 
the back way, like a witch's prayer. 

There is one truly national party in this coun- 
try, and but one— that is the Democratic party. 
It has ever been national, and is so yet. It is ' 
emphatically the party that contends for " meas- 1 
ures, not for men" — it is the party of the Consti- 
tution—the party of the country. Other parties 
may desert their principles to conform to the 
views of their candidates, but the Democratic 
will never change its principles for any man. 
The Black Republican party, thirsting for the 
spoils, may adhere to the fortunes of Fremont; 
the Know Notliing, in its admiration of the man, 
may follow in the forlorn hope, led on by Millard 
Fillmore. The one may shout for Cajsar, the 
other declare for Fompey; but the Democratic 
party, now as ever, will strike for the best inter- 
ests of the commonwealth of Rome. 

Assembled at Cincinnati in convention, com- 

f)osed of delegates from every district represented 
lere, it has constructed a platform eminently 
national. It has reared aloft the banner of the 
Constitution and the Union. To that consecrated 
standard, hosts of patriots are flocking in serried 
ranks from every quarter of this vast Republic — 
from the warm sunlit , rairies of Texas, and from 
the bleak hill tops of Mfiine — 

^" In climes 

That burn with fierce, or freeze with distant, suns." 
It floats proudly m the breeze that sweeps the 



Atlantic coast; and, in distant California, from the 
golden shores washed by the blue surges of the 
Pacific, its inspiring folds reflect the last depart- 
ing rays of the setting sun, as, far westward, it 
sinks into the briny deep. 

The Democratic party has presented for the 
suffrages of the people, the name of James Buch- 
anan, a statesman of enlarged experience and 
sound principles— one true to the Constitution 
and to all sections of the Union. In vain has the 
combined opposition sought to injure his reputa- 
tion as a patriot, a statesman, and a true Democrat. 
Reduced to desperate straits, it has ransacked the 
history of the past to scrape up charges against 
him. It is charged that he was a Federalist, and 
opposed to the last war with Great Britain. If 
this be true, it shows that he was a man who hail 
a heart in the right place, and loved his country 
better than party, that he was for his country, 
whether he believed it to be " right or wrong;" 
for, when our soil was invaded by a foreign foe, 
he volunteered with alacrity, shouldered hTs mus- 
ket, and marched to the tented field, to aid in re- 
pelling the enemy. 

Again, it is charged that he once said , if he had 
a drop of Democratic blood in his veins he would 
let it out. After the unqualified denial of this by 
Mr. Buchanan, and the mass of testimony that 
has been published to disprove it, I think that no 
man, who has a proper regard for his own repu- 
tation for truth and candor, will stoop so low as 
to reiterate the stale calumny. 

On a par with this is the oft-refuted slander, 
that he had advocated the reduction of the wages 
of the laboring man to ten cents a day. I pro- 
nounce this to beutterly false, and challenge any 
man on this floor to assert the contrary. Such a 
charge may suit the vitiated taste of the cross- 
roads demagogue and political charlatan of the 
tippling-shop; but no man who has been intrusted 
with a seat on this floor will stake his veracity on 
this execrable humbug. 

Wise men, too, have of late made the astound- 
ing discovery that Mr. Buchanan is unsound on 
the slavery question. Whence this grave charge? 
Is it true.' No, sir; entirely false; unsubstantial 
as a moonbeam; hypothetical in its origin; years 
ago exploded; based on certain resolutions of a 
meeting held in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, 
in 1819. What is the history of these resolutions .' 
Why, sir, simply this: that Mr. Buchanan wag 
not at the meeting that passed them; had nothing 
to do with them; knew nothing about them; and 
never saw or heard of them until they were pub- 
lished. He is no more responsible for them than 
I am — and they were passed long before I was 
born. Mr. Buchanan has always been true on 
this great question that is of such vital import- 
ance to the South; and it is astonishing that 
southern men should make allegations to the con- 
trary. His whole record, extending back for 
more than a third of a century, will shov/ that h« 
has ever been true. His past record is a suro 
guarantee for the future. We were told, in tha 
canvass of 1852, that General Pierce was unsound 
on this question; that it would not do to trust 
him; that he would betray the South, and so on. 
The people, however, had confidence in him; 



they believed him to be an honest man, and they 
were not deceived. His administration has de- 
monstrated the fact, that he was entitled to their 
confidence; for he has been as true to the Consti- 
tution as any man that ever occupied the execu- 
tive chair. The South has had no cause to com- 
plain of him. Between these candidates a choice 
is to be made. Southern men must look to things 
as they are, and act upon what they may con- 
sider right and proper. It is no time to wrangle 
about trifles — no tmie for party bickerings. A 
blow is being aimed at the Constitution itself. 
The enemy is assaulting the citadel; we must 
concentrate our whole strength to defend it, and 
to repel the assault. We must not dissipate our 
strength by skirmishing at the outposts, or im- 
pair it by internal dissensions among ourselves. 

The election of Fremont will be the death-knell 
of the Union. I am no alarmist, nor do I say 
this in any spirit of bravado or threatening. I 
assert it bccanse I believe it. Both northern and 
southern men have asserted it. Mr. Fillmore has 
in substance expressed that opinion, and in lan- 
guage, too, that no one can misunderstand: 

" We see a political party presenting candidates for the 
Presidency and the Vice Presidency selected for tlie first 
time from tlie free States alone, with the avowed purpose of 
electing these candidates by suffrages of one part of the 
Union only, to rule over the whole United States. [Cries of 
'Shame!' 'Shame!'] 

" Can it be possible that those who are engaged in such a 
measure can have seriously reflected upon the consequences 
which must inevitably follow in case of success ? Can 
they have the madness or the folly to believe that our 
southern brethren would submit to be governed by such a 
Chief Magistrate ? Would he be required to follow the same 
rule prescribed by those who elected him, in making his ap- 
pointments .' If a man living south of Mason and Dixon's 
line be not worthy to be President or Vice President, would 
it be proper to select one from the same quarter as one of 
his Cabinet council, or to represent the nation in a foreign 
country ; or, indeed, to collect the revenue or administer 
the laws of the United States ? If not, what new rule is the 
President to adopt for selection to office, that the people 
themselves discard in selecting him ? 

" These are serious but practical questions; and in order to 
appreciate them fully, it is only necessary to turn the tables 
upon ourselves, and suppose tliat the South, having a ma- 
jority of the electoral votes, should declare that they would 
only have slaveholders for President and Vice President, 
and should elect such by their exclusive suffrages to rule 
over us at the North. Do you think we would submit to it ? 
[Cries of No !'] No, not for one moment. And do you be- 
lieve your southern brethren less sensitive on this subject 
than you are, or less jealous of their rights .' If you do, let 
me tell you you are certainly mistaken. And, therefore, 
you must see that if this sectional party succeeds, it leads 
inevitably to tlie destruction of this beautiful fabric, reared 
by our forefathers, cemented by their blood, and bequeathed 
to us as a priceless inheritance. [Tremendous cheering.] 

'' I tell you, my friends, that I speak warmly on tliis sub- 
ject, for I feel that we are in danger." — Mr. Fillmore's 
.Speech at Albany. 

Let southern gentlemen who are disposed to 



vote for Mr. Fillmore, and thereby indirectly aid 
in the election of Fremont, reflect upon the awful 
consequences that may ensue should he be chosen 
President. The radical Abolitionists, almost to 
a man, and many of their twin brothers, the 
supporters of Fremont — I dare assert, a majority 
of them — are desirous for a separation of the 
States. Their words and acts manifest it; some 
of their leaders boldly avow it: 

" I have no doubt but that the free and slave States ought 
to be separated." — New York Tribune. 

" I pray daily that this accursed Union may be dissolved, 
even if blood have to be spilt."— BZac/: Republican clergy- 
man at Poughkeepsie. 

" The Union is not worth supporting in connection with 
the South." — Horace Greeley. 

" I look forward to the day when there shall be a servile 
msurrection in the South ; when the black man, armed 
with British bayonets, and led on by British officers, shall 
assert his freedom, and wage a war of externunation against 
his master ; when the torch of the incendiary shall light 
up the towns and cities of the South, and blot out tlie last 
vestige of slavery. And though I may not mock at their 
calamity, nor laugh when their fear cometh, yet I will hail 
it as the dawn of a political millennium."— JSa:irac(/ro»n 
speech of Joshua R. Giddings. 

" If peaceful means fail us, and we are driven to the last 
extremity where ballots are useless, then we'll make bul- 
lets effective. [Tremendous applause.]"— Speech of Hon. 
Erastus Hopkins, in Black Republican Convention, Phil- 
adelphia. 

" 1 detest slavery, and say unhesitatingly that I am in 
fkvor of its abolition by some means, if it sends all tlie 
party organizations in the Union, and <Ae Union itself, to the 
devil." — H. M. Jiddison. 

" In the case of the alternative being presented of the 
continuance of slavery or a dissolution of the Union, I am 
for a dissolution of the Union ; I am for dissolution, and 1 
care not how quick it comes."— Rufus P. Spalding. 

" On the action of this convention depends the fate of the 
country ; if the Republicans fail at the ballot-box, we v/ill 
be forced to drive back the slaveocracy with fire and the 
sword. [Cheers.]"— Gcncrai James Watson Webb in Black 
Republican Convention, Philadelphia. 

'•' This Union is a lie. The American Union is an impos- 
ture, a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell." 
* * * " I am for its oveitluow ! Up with the flag of dis- 
union, that we may have a free and glorious Republic of our 
own." — William Lloyd Garrison. 

"Although I am not one of that class of men who cry for 
the perpetuation of the Union, though I am willing in a cer- 
tain state of circumstances to let it slide."— iV. P. Banks, 
Speaker. 

" Resolved, That whoever would assassinate President 
Pierce would be a friend to his race and to his country." — 
Resolution oftoumship meeting in Ohio. 

" O, God ! we pray that Thou wilt curse the slaveholder 
in all his undertakings, confound all his plans, and spread 
terror, horror, and dismay throughout the entire South. 
Curse, O, God, we ask Thee, with a blighting curse, all 
the Democrats in the Union ; may they in an especial man- 



8 



LiBRftRV OF C^^S 



ner feol Uie wciglit of Thy great displeasure. We entreat 
Tliee, O, Lord, to go to Wa;jliington and kill Frank Pierce ; 
show him no mercy, but strike him down ; also, in your 
rigliteoiis wrath, remember and punish with direful wrath, 
Cass, Douglas, and Toombs ; let not one of these villains 
escape. We ask Thee, O, Lord, to afflict every pro-slavery 
man in Kansas with the leprosy or small pox ; and may 
they, after feeling the pains of a thousand deaths, be tum- 
bled lieadlong into Hell without a trial, there to feol ten 
thousand strokes on their bare backs, daily inflicted by 
each and every one of the slaves in the United States. 
Our Heavenly Father, we ask Thee to strengthen us in our 
resolves to make Kansas a free State at the peril of the 
Union ; we ask Thee to interpose Tliy mighty hand in our 
behalf, and lie^lp us to shiver the Union into atoms rather 
than to concede to the southern demons, in the form of 
slave drivers, one inch of the disputed territory." — Fourth 
of July prayer of a Black Republican Clergyman at Obcrlin, 
Ohio. 

In attaching the Sherman amendment to the 
Army appropriation bill, and refusing supplies 
to carry on the Government, tliis House has per- 
formed the first act in the drama of revolution. 
The genius of disunion, grim, hideous, and 
ghastly, has already presented its unsightly form 
in this Hall, at the bidding of agitators and disor- 
ganizers. If the pluck of Black Republicanism 
is not exceeded by its arrogance and treachery, 
it is like even to bring matters to a speedy issue. 
That assumed courage which has buoyed up the 
members of that parly, and is now pushing them 
on to the very verge of perpetrating an atrocious 
deed, will, no doubt, ooze out at their fingers' 
ends ere the act is consummated. They 'A'ill fiyj 
panic-stricken, from the untenable position they 
now occupy. They will defer it to another day, 
and a more auspicious time. 

What hopes can the South have hut in the elec- 



t 

c 

P 
ai 
try 




11 898 313 



nle? If the 
t will, in all 

011 **^° ''**' " -^"^ Fremont, 
- ._, .jiuigiuinunibered woes on thecoun- 

If the Know No.hings have all that exalted 
and self-sacrificing patriotism which they profess, 
(and I feel sure that many of them have,) why do 
they cling to their party so tenaciously under 
existing circumstances? They well know that 
the organization of that party cannot be kept up 
much longer; that it is rapidly dying out every- 
where; that it will soon be numbered among the 
things that were; and that even now it is but — 

"A vapor eddying in the whirl of time, 
And soon to vanish everlastingly." 

The preservation of the Constitution and of the 
Union is worthy of the highest aspirations of the 
patriot. It is high time that all conservative and 
national men, iu all parts of the country, and of 
all parties, should rally under the broad banner 
of the Constitution and the Union, and bear it 
aloft, emblazoned with its splendid galaxy of 
thirty-one stars, far above the reach of the polit- 
ical infidels, who are now stretching forth their 
polluting hands to drag it down and trail it in 
the dust. May we not indulge the hope, that a 
decided triumph of the " sentiment of national- 
ity," in the approaching election, will crush out 
fanaticism, drive slavery agitation from the Halls 
of Congress, and settle the question for all future 
time; that it will restore peace to a distracted 
country, revive good will among its citizens, 
and, above all, strengthen anew the strong cords 
of affection and material interests which bind these 
States together.' that they may continue, now and 
forever, 

" Unbroken as the sacred chain of nature, 
Tliat links the jarring elements in peace." 



